Do Macs cost more? There are various studies done out there that prove otherwise. The arguments are endless and prove little beyond the fact that there are a wide range of computer systems available in the retail market.
Yes, Macs do have a price point above the low-end systems of many PC makers. The question for the buyer…is it worth it when I could have a working PC for less?
I tend to look at it as a question of flow, like in getting into the flow. When you purchase a PC laptop or desktop, you are buying a hardware system made by one manufacturer and an operating system made by another company entirely. The match is not always a great one and it shows up in drivers that do not work, buggy hardware and software and a fair amount of time spent protecting your system from viruses, exploits and keeping drivers up to date.
Macs are not perfect in this regard, no computer system in all its complexity could possibly be perfect.
A Mac user does lose the potential to use some of the cutting edge systems available out there. A Mac purchase is pretty much bound by the choices made by Apple insofar as the Mac Mini, laptop and iMac lines are concerned. Owners of the Apple towers can mix and match aftermarket components at will if they are compatible and drivers are available.
On the other hand, the mix of hardware, design, Unix, interface and software make a powerful argument in favor of Apples. It’s really quite convenient to have a computer that simply works 99% of the time without having to go under the hood, install antivirus, antiexploit, latest patches, and still have a slow OS whose interface is based on OS X. We’re talking Vista here.
These are all just my opinions admittedly biased by my years of experience using Macs. I use Windows and Linux systems as platforms for serving software, not for the user experience. Macs, on the other hand, give me that experience of flow where things just seem to work, to come together, to function without needing a lot of time-consuming hacks or workarounds.
Jun 22
